1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to electronic systems and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for providing a portable electronic device for recording copies of images drawn on paper.
2. History Of The Prior Art
Although there have been many attempts to provide portable electronic devices for taking notes, recording data, and sketching figures which may be utilized electronically, all devices known to date are relatively expensive and require that new techniques be learned in order to allow their use. So called personal digital assistants (PDAs) find few buyers because of their high cost and limited usefulness. In fact, the cost of such devices and the difficulty of learning their varied operation has precluded the wide acceptance of these devices. Some people would refuse to use such devices even were they to be sold at reasonable prices, preferring instead to use paper for sketching and note taking. The refusal of such people to use these electronic devices means that the notes and sketches cannot easily be accessed by the various electronic techniques which are available except by the expensive and labor intensive technique of scanning.
It is desirable to be able to record copies of images produced on plane paper electronically so that various electronic processes for manipulating those images may be utilized.